Someone asked me how my brothers took my brewery from me and a typed out detailed response. The chronology of events on how such a thing could happen should be used as a cautionary tale:

It was stupid. I came up with the idea for the brewery as my first foray into the business world. My older brother was just finishing his army career and needed something to do afterwards, so I thought that I would ease his transition into civilian life by having him help with the project. Well, he kicked in a little cash, but he was absent from helping while I set everything up and fumbled my way through the permit process.

Ater a while and a ton of hard work on my part, it looked like we were about ready to get started. My little brother wasn't doing anything with his life so my older brother asked if we could bring him in as well. So, we did and he kicked in a little cash as well.

Then it was time to get to actually brewing beer after I somehow pulled off getting all our permits and such. The only problem was that niether of my brothers had ever brewed beer before. That created some tension because they got it in their head that after making a couple batches of my recipes that the very basics of making beer is all there is to the process and that I should no longer be directing them as to how to do things even though they were breaking stuff still by not listening to my instructions.

Tensions continued to build once we ran into a little financial hard times after the initial rollout and the initial excitement of a new brewery opening up. I kept the brewery afloat but the relationship between the brothers was no longer sound. My two brothers started blaming my leadership skills every time something went wrong even though they caused us to lose a few large batches of beer due to contamination because they weren't cleaning like I told them how to do.

Then came an offer to buy our lication/equipment while we could retain the brand and intellectual property. I saw it as an opportunity to move the business forward. Our distributor had not lived up to our expectations and we were cash pour because we were solely a production brewery without a tasting room. My strategy was to sell the current stuff for double what we spent to get open and open a different location with a tasting room for better cash flow.

The unfortunate part was that even though I owned a majority in equity, we had it in the paperwork that any sale would have to take a unanimous agreement. My brothers didn't see the benefit of selling and even wanted to counter offer 150% of the already generous offer. So, that offer went out the window and we continued to struggle financially.

On the beer side of things, the beer, which was coming out to be mostly mediocre, was starting to hit it's stride. It was some really good beer on par with what I was used to making. The only problem was getting it to the consumer because our supply chain was not setup that great. I will take responsibility for that problem because it was on me. In my defense, though, it was really difficult to do that correctly when trying to work with two brothers resenting you and having to fight with them to get them to do things how they are supposed to be done.

Luckily, I came up with the idea of setting up a growler station and selling them ridiculously cheap just to get people excited again about what we were doing. If the distributor was doing a bad job, at least we could get beer directly to the consumer. It was working like a charm.

The only problem was that my brothers' resentment grew and it had become uncomfortable for me to even walk into the brewery that I had worked so hard to get going. That lead me to make my biggest mistake. I told them one day that I needed to take a short leave of absence to clear my head. I had hoped that a couple week break from each other would help ease tensions, but that isn't what happened.

They took the ball and ran with it. Previously they were completely uninterested in the business side of things, but they completely took over within a matter of days. They had even taken upon themselves to tell our business contacts that I was no longer part of the company.

Upon hearing that, I was furious. How could they tell our business contacts that I was no longer part of the company when I was still majority owner and just taking a short break? That painted me into corner. I couldn't just reappear telling people that they were mistaken without looking like an idiot. I was also really hurt by that point that they weren't at least a little appreciative that I had gotten us to that point.

That is when I made another mistake. I sent them a formal resignation letter resigning as president but still wanting to be part of the company. That is when shit hit the fan. They took it as me quitting and that magically my 51% equity in the company got to just be redistributed among the remaining members.

I told them that it doesn't work that way, but they wouldn't listen. Their response was to send me a formal demand letter demanding that I give them all my recipes, the brewery key, say that I couldn't brew for no one else, and several other things. That didn't sit well with me so we had a meeting.

In that meeting we all talk about how we could move forward as a company and work out a plan that would be me just making beer in peace while they could run the company. Part of the deal was for me to keep my 51% of equity but I would be willing to give up any voting power. They agreed in principle and I told them that I needed a day to just think it over to make sure that it is my best interest.

The very next day I woke up to texts from my brothers demanding that we redistribute the equity equally or "bye". I felt betrayed. I left the meeting feeling good and thought that we could move past the drama. I was mistaken.

When I disagreed to that demand their response was strong and swift. They got thselves a lawyer and changed the locks on the brewery. The very same day they somehow got the bank to take me off the business bank account by telling them that I was no longer part of the company.

I was in no financial position to fight back. I had sunk every bit of savings that I had to get the business open. Even though I have signed paperwork stating my position as majority owner, they had effectively with their lawyer locked me out of the business. Then one by one they got all the paperwork changed out of my name by telling the people that I was no longer part of the company.

That is where I currently sit. They continue on while pretending that I don't exist telling people that I quit on the company. They even refuse to tell me basic financial numbers even though my 51% sits out there in the ether. Never once has there been a formal vote on anything. I just sit locked out while my brothers fumble with making beer for a company that I started.

They don't even know what mash ph is or even how to properly measure alcohol content. Yet they have taken on a brewing apprentice...